Disney Vinylmation - Marvel 3" - Series 1

Hey, everyone! Mike here, and thank you for checking out this first "In Box with Mike & Jess" entry about a blind box toy product! Today, I am going to be sharing my thoughts about the relatively new Disney Vinylmation Marvel series. If you haven't heard of Vinylmation, it is a line of vinyl figures by Disney. Each figure is shaped like Mickey Mouse and painted to look like a character from the series it belongs to. They are also able to have their heads and arms rotated.

Since Disney bought Marvel Comics, I have been waiting for a Vinylmation series based on its characters. It took a while, but the announcement finally arrived and I was extremely excited. Well, that was until the launch day here in Canada. A friend of mine showed up at the Disney Store near his house before it was open and there was a huge line outside the door. When the store opened, several people at the front of the line were allowed to buy a whole case of the Marvel Vinylmations each, selling them out in a matter of minutes. Needless to say, my friend didn't get a single figure. What's worse is that those people who bought the cases would stand near the Disney Store afterwards and try to sell individual figures to shoppers at a ridiculous premium. That deserves a huge "WTF?!?!?!" Anyway. my pal soon discovered one store that is out of the way that still had some Marvel Vinylmations for sale and drove out there to get some for himself and for me. (THANKS, BUDDY!)

Okay, on to the review. The first thing people will notice about these new Vinylmations is the box. It's the same height and depth as the old boxes, but it's thinner. Personally, I like this new box because it's less wasteful. Plus, for people who like to display their boxes, these take up much less space. The Marvel box has some really nice art on the sides. One side has Iron Man and the other has Captain America. The back of the box has the usual listing of available figures. As can be seen, this series comes with the following characters:

- Iron Man
- Thor
- Captain America
- Hulk
- Black Widow
- Spider-Man
- Vision
- Black Panther
- Doctor Strange
- Spider-Woman
- Nick Fury

The Chaser Figure for this series is (SPOILER) Ultron. There are also a couple of variants. The first one is a bearded Thor and the second is a translucent version of Vision.

So, which Marvel Vinylmation figures was I lucky enough to get? Captain America and Vision! I was thrilled when I opened my first box and Cap's shield fell out. He's one of my faves and getting him made my day. The figure itself is very well designed. I was a little sceptical about the Mickey ears at first since I felt that they should have been painted with the feathers from Captain America's helmet/mask. However, seeing the figure in person, I think the "explosions" work. Vision is also designed quite well. He even has a cape on his back, adding to his really cool look. My brother-in-law drove out a few days after my friend did and got himself the Variant Vision and now I'm envious. It looks a lot cooler than the original. But, hey, getting ANY Marvel Vinylmations is a good thing, so I'm not going to complain about what I got.

As for the rest of the figures, I only question the decisions made on one of them - Spider-Man. Of all the version of his costume Disney's designers could have picked, I think the Future Foundation version was one of the worst. I didn't hate it too much in the comics, but as a Vinylmation, it just looks cheap. Plus, there's no Variant with the Classic costume, making the FF version the only version at this time. It's truly a shame. The least they could have done was given us a Variant with the Iron Spider costume or Spidey's stealth outfit. But, no. Disney went with only one costume. Well, here's hoping we get Classic Spider-Man in Series 2.

I honestly really like the new Disney Vinylmations Marvel series. The designs are fantastic, the selection is great, and the figures are also very well made (unlike series such as Robots 2, which seem to be on the cheaper side). If you actually find some Marvel Vinylmations, I highly recommend you buy a figure or two because, even now, they are selling at insane speeds. Don't miss out on this awesome set, True Believers!

~ Mike